First systematic review on the cost-effectiveness of integrative oncology
A systematic review co-authored by the FIH shows that integrative oncology approaches are cost-effective — and can be integrated into existing care systems.
A recent systematic review co-authored by the Havelhöhe Research Institute (FIH) together with the Charité Competence Center for Traditional and Integrative Medicine (CCTIM) Berlin and further European partners shows that integrative oncology approaches are cost-effective. Additional partners included EUROCAM in Brussels, the Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the IVAA in Brussels and NICO in the United Kingdom.
The review examined health-economic studies on psycho-oncological programmes, rehabilitative measures, phytotherapeutic adjunct therapies and mind-body programmes. The findings show that these interventions can be integrated into existing care systems and were predominantly rated as cost-effective or even cost-saving compared with standard care.
Our work is the first systematic evidence on the cost-effectiveness of integrative oncology concepts of this kind, and the results suggest these approaches can sensibly be integrated into regular health care.
This is how lead author PD Dr. med. Friedemann Schad of Havelhöhe Community Hospital and the Havelhöhe Research Institute summarises the findings.
The results align with the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034 and underline the potential to integrate such approaches more strongly into national cancer programmes and care concepts.
Article by Anja Thronicke